It's delightful to be mentioned in The National on 31/Aug/2009. The printed edition is beautiful, but the online edition is available below and written by Ed Lake:
If The National is prepared to cover Arab blogs more regularly then they should look at the blogs by ABIT, Moryarti, DJ, GrapeShisha, etc to name but a few. There are many other amazing ones out there, but sadly they do not blog anymore.
A final word. About this twitter thing. I think it's a lovely new technology, but twitter is no match to blogger because you can make your blog posts 140 characters long if you want. You can follow people through google connect or reader and it's much more customisable. It's just that twitter is dumbed down a bit more so it appeals to those who would like things to be simple, and I can understand that. However the reason why I stick to this blog is because of comments. I'm not here to write as much as I am here to listen to your opinions and to debate in a constructive manner. I am also happy to provide a platform for those with strong views on anything to voice them on the relevant posts that I write on. You can even suggest a new topic if you feel I should cover it. It's all about the readers and less about me.
This piece appeared in today's Gulf News by the infamous Khalaf al Habtoor. He could have argued a bit better for our cause, and mentioned the 3 occupied island that belong to the UAE. However, it's a good piece and deserves a mention.
By Khalaf Al Habtoor, Special to Gulf News Published: August 25, 2009, 23:03
The gentle water that laps off the shores of the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq and Iran has become a source of contention. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but it certainly irks most people in this part of the world when outsiders invariably refer to the Arabian Gulf as the Persian Gulf. Those of us who grew up here swam in the Arabian Gulf as children and were told that the big ships we could see in the distance were sailing through the Arabian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. And, today, most tourists who flock here from every corner of the globe do not consider themselves visitors to the Persian Gulf.
It may be true that pre-1960s maps and treaties made reference to this body of water as the Persian Gulf in the same way that many ancient European maps referred to the Red Sea as Sinus Arabicus or Arabian Gulf. But let's fast forward to the 21st century. Today, there are several reasons why the international community and its cartographers should officially recognise 'Arabian Gulf'.
The first is obvious. Persia hasn't existed since 1935 and, therefore, does not appear on modern maps. So, by saying Persian Gulf we are implicitly attributing domination of this 24,000 square kilometre body of water to a long gone era.
Secondly, the modern-day Islamic Republic of Iran is just one of eight countries that share this waterway, with all the rest being Arab. Moreover, many Iranians who live near Iran's southern coastline are ethnically Arab or Arabic speakers.
Thirdly, we are living during a time when countries in the Gulf have attained unprecedented geopolitical and economic clout, which should be recognised.
Fourthly, history notwithstanding, there are numerous examples of countries, cities and seas undergoing a name change to reflect the contemporary status quo. For instance, Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe, the Gold Coast became Ghana, Burma changed its name to Myanmar and Bombay is now known as Mumbai.
You may be interested to know that the Romans called the Mediterranean Mare Nostrum or 'Our Sea', while the ancient Greeks called the Atlantic Ocean Oceanus, but you don't find present-day Italians and Greeks up in arms about the name change.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our good friends the Iranians. They are hanging on to the 'Persian Gulf' like a mother lion defending her cubs. In 2004, hundreds of organised Iranian bloggers and webmasters launched what is called a 'Google bomb' and were successful in manipulating the Google search engine so that each time anyone searched for 'Arabian Gulf', up popped a spoofed web page that read 'The Gulf you are looking for does not exist. Try Persian Gulf'. Iranian hackers have also been busy hacking into Arab websites and replacing maps of the Gulf with their own.
In 2005, the Iranian government was incensed when Qatar used 'Arabian Gulf' in its official documents relating to the 2006 Asian Games and threatened to boycott them. In the same vein, Tehran has threatened to cancel the 2009 Islamic Solidarity Games planned for October because GCC member countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have asked that references to the 'Persian Gulf' be dropped from the event's promotional materials and medals. However, negotiations are ongoing and the Games may yet be salvaged. In the past, Iran has banned National Geographic publications because its World Atlas had 'Arabian Gulf' in parentheses, as well as The Economist, which used 'Gulf' on a map published in the magazine.
Frankly speaking, if Iranian sensitivities are that delicate then I have no problem with any name they care to give this shared body of water as long as they do not impose their terminology on anyone else. In a spirit of live and let live there should be no reason why they can't continue with 'Persian Gulf' while we Arabs hold to 'Arabian Gulf' or, simply, 'Gulf' in the same way the British say 'English Channel' and the French La Manche (the Sleeve) when speaking of the Atlantic waters that separate the UK from France.
Just as the labels English Channel and La Manche are legally interchangeable, 'Arabian Gulf' and 'Persian Gulf' should be likewise in the eyes of the international community. Despite appeals from Gulf nations, as things stand, UN directives stipulate that 'Persian Gulf' should be used in official documents, while the US and the UK have both endorsed 'Persian Gulf' as the official term of reference. Given the close relationship that GCC countries enjoy with Washington and London, this entrenched stance on their part is uncooperative at best, offensive at worst.
Lastly, our predicament is shared by North and South Korea, which have asked the UN Conference on the Standardisation of Geographical names to change the 'Sea of Japan' to the 'East Sea'. Unlike its support for 'Persian Gulf', in this case, the UN has ruled that such issues should be settled by the countries concerned.
We are just as proud of our history and geopolitical status as the Iranians are and we deserve just as much respect from our friends, especially when we host so many throughout the Gulf region. I would, therefore, ask our leaders to vigorously pursue this issue at the UN and, further, I would request our allies to look favourably upon any such request.
Until now, Arab nations have been treating this issue with kid gloves. It's about time that we made ourselves heard. The warm waters of the Gulf will be around long after we're gone but as Theodore Roosevelt once said, "The one thing I want to leave my children is an honourable name".
Khalaf Al Habtoor is a businessman and the Chairman of Al Habtoor Group.
This youtube video above is really disgusting and eye-opening. An Israeli zionist pig of a theif has decided to steal a very potent Arab and Palestinian symbol and turn it into a piece of Israeli propaganda. I think this is a new low to add to the amazing lows that Israel is capable of.
What I do not understand is why doesn't he pick on an easier target? Everyone knows the khiffiye is Arab and Palestinian. It would make us very stupid if we started to wear the 6-pointed star (even though it's an old Islamic motif) to protest against Israel. What I also don't understand is that if you claim to be so close to the Arabs geographically and genetically then why don't you at least speak the language of one of the Semites (i.e. Hebrew or Arabic). Instead he babbles on in French.
For more information please visit this excellent blog below where you can also purchase Palestinian-made products to resist the occupation. Two cheers to Ragi Omar and Al Jazeerah for this excellent work.
I was completely disgusted to read the following article below on the BBC. I'll copy the article fully below.
It's a complete joke by the western media to be so biased against Palestinians. Here is an event that occurred almost a CENTURY ago and it gets covered with the zionists being the poor victims. Oh please give me a break, BBC! No jews coming to live in Palestine either before or after 1948 were considered peaceful. Their main aim was to annex land by whatever means and to create a jewish state.
A massacre is a massacre but please BBC get some balance in your reporting. After all the murderous campaigns that Israel has conducted since it's bloody founding you still have the gall to write such an article? Complete rubbish. I wonder if the BBC or other western media outlets will remember when innocent Palestinians were murdered PRAYING inside a mosque back in 1994. If you need to refresh your memory then please visit:
Today, Israel presses a button and the IDF sends missiles into Gaza killing Palestinians by the dozen, and the world watches silently, but when the time comes 80 years down the line, we all remember what happened in a small Palestinian town with a minority of Jewish troublemakers.
Ironically the BBC do not mention the role of Britain in the conflict, with the Balfour declaration and all. This supported zionist immigration a lot and as usual tends to be forgotten in the West.
Anyway no need for me to waste so much words on this. It's just disgusting that a jewish human life is worth more than a muslim human life, especially on muslim soil.
Eighty years ago, violent Arab riots against Jewish immigration gripped British-ruled Palestine. The worst violence occurred in the city of Hebron where, on the 23 and 24 August, 67 Jews were murdered. Dina Newman reports on how memories of the bloody events of 1929 still linger in Hebron today.
A small museum in the Old City of Hebron, established by the Jewish settler historian Noam Arnon, displays evidence of the massacre eight decades ago - a photograph of a girl struck over the head with a sword with her brain spilling out; a woman with bandaged hands; people with their eyes gouged out.
These are the well-documented atrocities committed by an Arab mob seeking to drive their Jewish neighbours out of Hebron.
Hajj Yussef Hijazi, now 95 years old, witnessed the tragedy. He lived in the old city and remembers that houses there were small and close to each other. A section of his family's house was rented out to a Jewish hacham, or rabbi. Both sections of the house were connected through a back door.
"Jews in the old city were mostly shopkeepers, doing business. We used to visit each other," he says speaking through an interpreter. "We used to go to each others' places for tea. They were our Palestinian Jews, they spoke Arabic and they dressed like us Arabs."
"Jews lived here peacefully with their Arab neighbours," confirms Mr Arnon. "Jews here were not involved in any politics. They did not have any self-defence. And this wonderful life finished with a tragedy."
Hebron is a holy city to both Muslims and Jews. The patriarch Abraham is believed to be buried here. Both Muslims and Jews claim spiritual and emotional connection to the site, which is called the Tomb of the Patriarchs by Jews and the Ibrahimi Mosque by Muslims.
But modern political rifts mean the tension between the two communities remains high.
Among Hebron's Jewish settlers, probably the most hardline settler community in the West Bank, the enduring stereotype of a cruel Arab, drinking tea with you one minute and plunging a dagger into your back the next, often comes up in conversation.
The settlements inside Hebron are heavily protected by Israeli soldiers. Since 1994, when a US-born settler Baruch Goldstein shot dead 29 Palestinians at prayer in Ibrahimi Mosque, the Israeli army maintains a strict separation policy.
As a result most Arab residents and shopkeepers have moved out of the Old City, and those who remain risk abuse and harassment by settlers protected by Israeli troops.
Hajj Yussef says problems with the Jewish community started in the mid-1920s, when more Jews began to arrive from abroad. They did not speak Arabic and they dressed differently. They were coming in their hundreds.
In November 1928, like every year since 1917, the Palestinian Arabs protested against the Balfour Declaration, a letter from the British foreign secretary promising to support a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
"After these protests the Arabs got very angry," says Hajj Yussef. "They were very angry with the Jews, especially the non-Palestinian Jews."
The Jews and the Palestinians agree that despite prior warnings of possible violence in August 1929 the British authorities did nothing to avert the tragedy.
There was just one British policeman in Hebron, who had completely underestimated the danger to the Jewish minority.
He commanded a force of 18 mounted police and 15 on foot, of whom all but one were Palestinian Arabs.
This small force was quickly overrun by the mob, while some Arab policemen even joined in the killings.
From mid-August rumours began to spread that Jews were killing Muslims in Jerusalem and were about to destroy their holy sites.
The nationalist mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, is often blamed for whipping up news of anti-Arab violence to foment unrest. But despite the bloodshed elsewhere in Palestine, the Jewish community in Hebron did not believe that their Arab neighbours could attack.
Hajj Yussef remembers the morning of 24 August well. It was Saturday.
"When the trouble started I could not understand why, and I was really shocked," he says.
Early in the morning, when calls to kill Jews were heard on the streets of Hebron, Hajj Yussef and his cousin went to see their lodger, the Jewish hacham. They found him there together with his wife and a dozen students.
"We did not know all of students," says Hajj Yussef. "Some of them were not from Palestine, they were outsiders. But they were together with the hacham, and we took all of them into our section of the house through the back door."
When an angry mob came looking for the Jews, Hajj Yussef was afraid that the people being sheltered by his family could get hurt. He says he was not afraid for himself, perhaps because he was too young.
He says he and his cousin persuaded the mob to go away, "because this hacham was a Palestinian".
Noam Arnon does not know Hajj Yussef, but he used to know some other Arabs who had saved the Jews.
He says they deserve appreciation and recognition for what they did. As for the settler community, Mr Arnon sees its historic mission as the continuation of Jewish life in Hebron, after Jews returned to the city following Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967.
Ruth Hizmi is a teacher and a mother of seven. She is proud to live in Hebron and believes this is the best place in the world to raise her children.
"I was born in England, and sometimes I am scared to go out, because I know we are in danger," she says with a smile. "But I can see our children, they were born in Hebron, and they are walking around, they are proud, they have no fear. If an Arab attacks them, they attack back. This is our reality, and we can't run away from it."
The settlers are planning to commemorate the 1929 riots with a ceremony in September, with some of the survivors present. But Hajj Yussef believes today's settlers have no right to live in Hebron at all.
"I have no problem living with the Jews, like we lived many years ago," he says. "But today's settlers are not Palestinian Jews, they came here from abroad. And I have a problem if the Jews live in my country as occupiers and settlers."
New Rule: If Mitt Romney, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin all think America has never done anything wrong, we must be doing something wrong. Look at them: an empty suit, an empty heart and an empty head. It looks like the news team on Good Morning Hell. And what they've been competing about lately is who would not apologize the most. America is infallible, and apologies are horrible things that must never, ever be given. Except by me when I make a joke about the Pope. "We're perfect -- deal with it," is their new handshake. But I say, what's wrong with America occasionally saying, "I'm sorry"? Because these are the three sorriest white people I've ever seen.
If in your eyes America can do no wrong, you should really look into Lasik surgery. There's the rational, mature assessment of our country: that it's a great nation -- especially if you like fried foods -- but it also has its faults. And then there's the Republican view: that it's perfect and pure in every way and it's always right all the time, just like Leviticus and Ronald Reagan.
If the founders were alive today, Republicans would be giving them shit because the Preamble to the Constitution says, "In order to form a more perfect union? Hello, it's already perfect! Why are you suggesting American apologetics, Ben Franklin?"
One of the things that makes Republicans furious about our current president is their idea that Obama is always apologizing for America's biggest mistakes. Unlike President Bush. Who was one of America's biggest mistakes.
In his first week as president, Obama did an interview with Arab TV in which he said, "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect." Thought crime! And then he went to Cairo and violated one of those absolute eternal rules the Right Wing is always making up out of thin air: "The president must never apologize on foreign soil. Lest our allies begin to doubt that we're assholes. "
But what did Obama actually say to make Karl Rove's head explode and the popcorn fly out? Cover your children's ears: When he was asked if he believed in American exceptionalism, he said he did, the same way "the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism." Yes, our so-called president actually said people in other countries might like their countries better. I was so shocked I nearly dropped the Bible I was using to help me masturbate into my gun.
In her farewell speech -- if only -- Sarah Palin kept telling us "how she's wired." Now I'm not a doctor, or an electrician -- but this is faulty wiring, this worldview that, in her words, "we should never apologize for our country." Really? Never? Not for slavery? Or Japanese internment camps, or if we tortured the wrong guy at Guantanamo? The Indians? Nothing, Sarah? "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"? Shouldn't John McCain apologize for... you?
When did intractability become a virtue? Mitt Romney's new book is called No Apology: The Case For American Greatness. You can find it at Borders, in the "Suck-Up" section. It's such a perfect title, combining paranoia with arrogance: "No one has yet asked me to apologize but, if someone ever does, fuck them."
Conservatives think apologizing is a sign of weakness. It's what liberal pussies do, when they're not busy driving electric cars and feeling empathy. When in fact it's the weak and the scared who are too insecure to apologize. Apologies are actually a sign of strength. That's why six-year-olds hate them.
In Rwanda, after a genocide that killed a million people, they set up special courts where people stood up and said, "Hey, sorry I macheted your entire family. My bad." And believe it or not, in most cases, that was enough. That's the power of an apology. A recent study reveals that doctors who are willing to apologize to patients for their mistakes are sued for malpractice about half as much as doctors who aren't willing to apologize.
Apologies can do great things, and they can enable great things. And if you still don't believe me, I have three words for you: make-up sex.
Bill Maher is the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Fridays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time on HBO. Guests on this week's program include Jay Leno, Chuck Todd, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Sam Harris and Jeremy Scahill.
Follow Bill Maher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billmaher
EDIT DATED 26 AUG 2009
This should balance views a bit. I'm a bit disappointed with Bill Maher to be honest. However like I said, he's a politician, and they are like snakes. Plus I liked his article above, and not the video. Maybe he's confused. Did he complete his rehab course?
Is it just me who suffers from ignorants at the mosque every friday? Today I honestly felt like I was in the zoo. Actually it felt like it was the wild safaris of Kenya. There were creatures coughing, sneezing, snorting, and yawning. Not to mention scratching, toe-rubbing, hair-rubbing, and picking of noses.
Why do people do this when they are in the presence of God? More importantly don't they notice there are other people in the mosque and you should be at your best behaviour? Honestly, felt like a pig sty more than a mosque, but that's just me.
Ladies and gentlemen, to those that do not believe we've got a rat in the office.. well there u go..
the sound today at work was DISGUSTING!!! I hope they remove it before Sunday.. and i dread to think if they been all over my mouse, keyboard, phone yuk!!!
I just learned about this not-so-affectionate term for President Obama yesterday, and I found it quite funny that some people attack him by calling him (or his supporters) as Barackuda!
This of course is a play on words for a popular type of fish, the Barracuda which is a fish known for its voracious predatory skills. Personally, I think it's a nice complement to the 44th President of the United States of America, but some might not think like Al Arab.
Sorry for the lack of a better image, but it's only right to credit the owner here.
This probably started last year in 2008, which puts thing in perspective given that the GOP guys lost.
When the word "gay" is entered into Google's translation tools, the word "luti" is returned, an Arabic equivalent of "sodomite", to the ire of gay activists.
Just reading about this makes me laugh, but of course I appreciate that some people out there take this stuff very seriously, and each to his own of course :)
If the last post got people worked up a bit, then this might perhaps work out other bits of your body!
Thanks Mori and DJ for such an excellent find :)
I prefer this song to Eminem's btw.. I wish he used an Arabic beat and jazzed it up to sound like rap/hiphop. Imagine a jazzed up um kulthoom song? :)
UPDATE:
Thanks SoRealT.. fantastic stuff.. i like this second video more.. but do u say the music is of arabic origins as opposed to the eminem song? i really love this video.. very powerful.. and the arabic words in latin script are good..very good. how many arab men do u think agree with what's in this song? arab women?
Ok, so let's get the facts straight. President B. Hussein Obama visits New Hampshire state for some kind of public gathering and is greeted by a guy clearly holding a gun and holding a sign with the most ugly of meanings:"It's time to water the Tree of Liberty." which is a very famous quote by a former American president. I'll let you read the article to get the full juice.
However the full quote (which was not quoted) is:
"Sometimes it is necessary to water the Tree of Liberty with the blood of tyrants"
Really horrible stuff. And there are shits out there that defend this stuff calling it freedom! Yeah right! Try carrying more than 100ml of liquids anywhere near an aircraft cabin before being stopped... where's my freedom?
There was a "terror" attack in Tel Aviv a few days ago. A gunman killed various people in a gay club. The news was announced but then quickly died which is surprising. No Palestinians were blamed. No "terrorists" took responsibility, etc.
Seems perhaps there are two sides to Israel's superiority on the gay rights and the democratic fronts. Hence the news had nothing to say, coz there are no guilty arabs.. oh.. what a shame...
As you probably noticed if you're in the UAE, we are covered by dust for weeks, and the source of this dust could be attributed to the drying up of the marshes in Iraq (Saddam didn't like 'em Marsh Arabs). Thank Allah we have this new CAT III landing, See ILS Categories which makes landing a breeze at Abu Dhabi and Dubai's airports. However I've ended up driving with my headlights on low beam just to be seen. Other animals on the roads think I am flashing them, so they attempt to slow down (I know, typical animal behaviour). Unfortunately the headlights and horn are used as a means of attack and defense in our primitive society rather than safety equipment to make driving safer.
Anyway, safe flying and driving for us all. Looking forward to better visibility soon, at least so I can start running longer and riding too.
